Smiley faces
by Celestron
Summary: What's with all the smiley faces Akane?....Akane?....


Author's note Auuuuuuuuthorrr's nooooooote!!  Erm…..eh…..*scratches head*…. Forgot what I was gonna say….

Warning:  Extreme romantic gooshines ahead!  Not that there's anything wrong with that… Hmmmm…. I don't _think_ there's any spoilers, but I suppose I can't be sure… you all know who Ukyou is, don't you?…. Anyway, so read at your own risk!  Oh yeah:

Dis-claim-her:  I *raises right hand* do hereby swear….. nothing! HA!  No, really, you know they ain't mine…I shoudn't have to tell you this!  

Don't sue!  You won't get anything… I have no mooooneeeyyy, cause I'm in Coooollllegggeeeeee…..*does money dance in hopes the gods of monetary values will have some mercy*

Ja ne!

PS:  Additional note on crappy title:  it was supposed to be exactly this: "^_^  ?", but stupid ff.net won't let meeeeeee!!  *sniffle, sob*  Ok. Bye-bye!

                                                            ^_^   ?

            The wind tosses her hair playfully, but she does not notice.  She walks slowly down the street, head down, shoulders slumped.  She stops, pauses for a moment, then turns her face to the sky, as though to feel the last rays of the day's sunshine upon her skin.  As her face turns upward, the light glimmers off the tears that are coursing down it.

                                                                        * * *

            Ranma enters the Ucchan, shoulders slumped.  He waves despondently at the okonomiyaki chef and takes a seat.  She smiles softly at him.

            "Bad fight, Ranchan?"

            He winces, and nods.  *Akane…I'm sorry…* The words echo through his head.

            "I thought so.  She came through here a couple minutes ago and left this for you."  She holds out a folded white paper.  He takes it slowly, cautiously, as one would approach a poisonous snake.  Slowly he unfolds it and reads:

            _Ranma, _

_            I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused in your life.  I know that the one thing you're afraid of is hurting a girls feelings, so I thought I'd make this easier on you.  I've left a note for our fathers, telling them that I've called off the arranged marriage thing (I know how much you hated it).  I told them that whatever you want to do is fine with me.  And I mean it, Ranma.  I've thought about it a lot lately, watched you a bit, and tried to figure you out.  I don't think that I'm the girl you want to be engaged to, Ranma.  Or Shampoo.  And I won't even mention Kodachi….^_^_

            Ranma looked up from the paper.  A smiley face?  Akane had drawn a smiley face?  She must _really_ want him to know that she wasn't mad or something….  He continued reading:

_            So that just leaves one girl.  I guess I can't really be sure, but I really think that Ukyou is the girl you want to marry.  You always go to her for help, you never complain about her, she's nice to you, you're always nice to her, and you seem to really love it when she cooks for you and all.  So anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't worry about hurting anyone here.  I'll be happy for you if you find the girl of your dreams.  And I know I'm not as uncute as you say, so I'll find someone else eventually.  Don't worry about Shampoo, either.  That girl is demanding, mean, manipulative, and conniving.  Don't let her tears get to you, Ranma, she's probably faking.  Her only desire for you is to fulfill her laws, that's not a good grounds for a marriage.  And once again, I won't even mention Kodachi…. ^_^_

            Ranma shook his head again.  Smiley faces were _definitely_ not Akane's style.  This must have been pretty hard on her.  He read again:

            _So anyway, I'm just saying that you should go after the girl you really want and not let anything get in your way.  Life is too short, and you never know when the unexpected might happen.  Have a good life, Ranma, and invite me to the wedding, okay?_

_            Your friend (and ex-fiance! ^_^),                                                                                                                                                                 Akane Tendou_

He looked up from the note, meeting Ukyo's gaze.  She seemed to be holding her breath, looking at him somewhat expectantly.  Did she….?

            "Do you know what this note is about?"

            "Sort of….  She kinda, asked me some weird questions when she came in here…. I can guess what she wrote."  Ranma nodded.  "So…uh….. What are you gonna do, Ranchan?"

                                                                        * * *

            She walked on, head down, concentrating so hard on the ground that she almost walked past the place she wanted to go.  She was halfway across the bridge before she realized where she was.  She stopped and looked out over the water for a moment.  Beautiful, simple, clean and bright.  Maybe its song would calm her a little.  Or maybe it would only remind her of what she'd lost…. But she didn't have anywhere else to go at the moment.  She turned back to the end of the bridge, hopped down the bank and ducked into the shadows cast by the huge concrete structure, standing close to the waters edge.

            She sighed.  Had she done the right thing?  Was her choice a good one?  Would…Would Ranma be happy?  If he didn't see how upset she was, then…maybe he would be.

            An image of him smiling at Ukyo over one of her okonomiyaki's suddenly flashed through her mind and stabbed daggers through her heart. 

            "Ranma." She whispered his name, an anguished tone to her voice, as she collapsed to her knees.  The events of the day finally caught up to her and, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep it in.  Memories overtook her.  Memories of Ranma smiling at her, helping her, rescuing her… Memories of Ranma being her friend…and she had hoped that maybe…someday…it would be just a little bit…more.  

            No chance of that now.  

            She couldn't keep smiling.   "Gonna have to do better than this to convince Ranma.  Geez, Akane," she whispered to herself, talking to try and choke back the sobs, "get a hold of yourself.  You're _happy_ for Ranma, remember?"

            She looked up, eyes fixed on the last rays of sun sparkling off the water.  Happy for him?  Right.  Sure…  "Oh Ranma…look what I've done to myself now.  Stupid, Akane.  Very stupid.  I should have kept all the ties that I had to him…"

            A hand suddenly, gently, came to rest on her shoulder.  She looked at it out of the corner of her eye.  That hand had to belong to none other than….  She quickly wiped the tears out of her eyes and, putting on the happiest face she could muster, stood and turned to face him.

            "Hello, Ranma.  What are you doing here?  Shouldn't you be at Ucchans?"

            "Akane…" Oh god.  His voice.  She could take angry, happy, or just nice and friendly.  But sad?  Sympathetic?  Quiet and soft like that?  Damn…

            "Such a nice day today, isn't it?"  She had to talk, something, to keep him from saying her name like that again.  If he did it again, she didn't think she'd be able to hold herself together…. "I just love the end of summer like this.  It stays so warm at night, and the sunsets are much more spectacular.  How is Ukyo?  Did the two of you talk much?  I hope everything worked out okay.  Nobody was upset or anything.  Speaking of which, I'm sorry for our fight this morning.  That really was mostly my fault.  You'd think I would know by now that every time that stupid bicycle bell rings Shampoo will be along shortly to glomp you.  It's not like it's your fault, you certainly didn't go looking for her, and it's a stupid thing to get angry over anyway."  She had to pause for breath.  That was all the opening that Ranma needed.

            "Akane.  Stop.  Look at me for a minute, will ya'."  So calm.  Caring, comforting… sad….

            She looked around for a moment, avoided his eyes as long as she could, until, reluctantly, she forced herself to meet his gaze, happy smile plastered all over her face.  She could do this.  She could convince him she was happy for him.  She could….  Their eyes locked and her breath caught in her throat.  She had thought she was prepared for anything.  But not this… She couldn't hold it in, the overwhelming sadness and pain welled up and spilled over under the calm gaze of his icy blue eyes.  She turned quickly away from him.

            "Damn you."  Her words were hoarse.  She barely got them out past the lump in her throat.  "Why do you have to make this so difficult?  Why couldn't you just accept the damn letter for what it was worth?  Just go be happy with Ukyo, you baka.  Quit worrying about hurting my feelings.  Why did you come?  Why are you so concerned with how I feel?  Why do you care?  Hell, why do I care for that matter?!  Why did I ever let you into my heart in the first place?!" The words surprised her for a moment.  She hadn't meant to say them.  Hadn't meant to admit that she… "Damn.  I tried so hard not to let you in….  Just go away, Ranma.  Go away and be happy.  I…I'll be okay…. eventually."  She swatted uselessly at her tears, but there were so many of them.  Would they never stop?

            A scarred and callused hand reached past hers and wiped away a tear with gentle fingers.  Her eyes snapped up to stare at Ranma in confusion.  Hadn't she told him to go away?

            "I don't want to go be happy with Ukyo, Akane.  That's why I came here."  And with that he gently cupped her face in his hands, tilted her head to one side and kissed her.  Soft, gentle, loving and warm.

            *Does this mean he doesn't want to marry Ukyo after all?*

                                                                        ***

Ha!  I finished!  Now review! (or I'll sic fluffy-sama upon your arse….)  Ja ne!


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